Pages

15 May 2015

Daniel Martín

Spanish actor Daniel Martín (1935-2009) acted in more than 60 European films, including Sergio Leone's classic Spaghetti Western Per un pugno di dollari/A Fistful of Dollars (1964). Under the pseudonym Dan Martin, he played Unkas, the son of the chief of the Mohicans, in the Eurowestern Der Letze Mohikaner/The Last Tomahawk (1965), based on the famous novel The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper.

Dan Martin and Anthony Steffen
German postcard, no. 1 of 64. Photo by Constantin. Still for Der Letze Mohikaner (1965) with Anthony Steffen.

Dan Martin in Der Letzte Mohikaner (1965)
German postcard, no. 53 of 64. Photo: Constantin. Still from Der Lezte Mohikaner/The Last Tomahawk (1965). Caption: Trotz des Kampfgetümmels ist Unkas das Vorgehen seines Feindes Magua nicht entgangen. Er kämpft sich frei und nimmt Maguas Spur auf. (Despite the battle tumult, Unkas did not fail to notice the actions of his enemy Magua. He fights his way free and takes Maguas track.)

Daniel Martin in Der Letzte Mohikaner
German postcard, no. 58 of 64. Photo: Constantin. Still from Der Lezte Mohikaner/The Last Tomahawk (1964). Caption: "Der weise Häuptling hat beide gehört. Er befragt darauf den grossen Manitu. Das Gottesurteil lautet: Ein Zweikampf soll über Leben und Tod entscheiden." (The wise chief has heard both. He asked it the great Manitou. The judgment of the God is: a duel will decide about life and death.)

Excellent Spaghetti Western


Daniel Martin was born José Daniel Martínez Martínez in Cartagena, Spain in 1935. In 1962 he made his film debut in the historical drama La spada del Cid/The Sword of El Cid (Miguel Ilglesias, 1962).

Since this debut Martín played supporting roles and small parts in over 60 films, including many exploitation movies. He also appeared in such interesting productions as the Oscar nominated romance Los Tarantos (Francisco Rovira Beleta, 1963) with Antonio Gades, and the classic Spaghetti Western Per un pugno di dollari/A Fistful of Dollars (Sergio Leone, 1964) starring Clint Eastwood.

Other film, he appeared in were the heist caper Las Vegas, 500 millones/They Came to Rob Las Vegas (Antonio Isasi-Isasmendi, 1968), the excellent Spaghetti Western Anda muchacho, spara!/At the End of the Rainbow (Aldo Florio, 1971) with Fabio Testi, and the thriller La polizia incrimina la legge assolve/High Crime (Enzo G. Castellari, 1973) with Fernando Rey.

Dan Martin
German postcard, no. 56 of 64. Photo: Constantin. Still from Der Lezte Mohikaner/The Last Tomahawk (1965).

Dan Martin and Anthony Steffen in Der Letzte Mohikaner
German postcard, no. 4 of 64. Photo: Constantin. Still from Der Lezte Mohikaner (1965) with Anthony Steffen.

Karin Dor and Daniel Martin in Der letzte Mohikaner (1965)
German postcard, no. 36 of 64. Photo: Constantin. Still from Der Lezte Mohikaner/The Last of the Mohicans (Harald Reinl, 1965) with Karin Dor.

The Last of the Mohicans


Under the pseudonym Dan Martin, Daniel Martín starred in Der Letze Mohikaner/The Last of the Mohicans (Harald Reinl, 1965). This Euro-western was based on the historical novel The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper, first published in 1826.

The story takes place in 1757, during the French and Indian War (the Seven Years' War), when France and Great Britain battled for control of the North American colonies. During this war, the French called on allied Native American tribes to fight against the more numerous British colonists.

Daniel Martín played Uncas, the son of the chief of the Mohicans. Uncas rides with his white ally, the frontiersman Natty Bumppo, known as Falkenauge/Hawkeye (Anthony Steffen) through the country. Soon they discover that the Huron and a gang of white bandits have destroyed the tribe of the Mohicans...

After Der Letze Mohikaner Martín also starred as Uncas in the sequel, Uncas, el fin de una raza/Fall of the Mohicans (Mateo Cano, 1965), but this time without Anthony Steffen. In 1970 both actors starred again together in the Western La caza del oro/They Believed He Was No Saint (Juan Bosch, 1972).

In the 1980s and 1990s, Martín was mostly seen in Spanish B-films and on TV. His last film was the crime film A tiro limpio/A clean shot (Jesús Mora, 1996) and his final screen appearance in the TV series Hospital Central (2002) .

Daniel Martín died in 2009 in Zaragoza, Spain, of natural causes. He was 74.

Karin Dor and Daniel Martin in Der letzte Mohikaner (1965)
German postcard, no. 29 of 64. Photo: Constantin. Still from Der Lezte Mohikaner/The Last of the Mohicans (Harald Reinl, 1965) with Karin Dor.

Karin Dor and Daniel Martin in Der letzte Mohikaner (1965)
German postcard, no. 47 of 64. Photo: Constantin. Still from Der Lezte Mohikaner/The Last of the Mohicans (Harald Reinl, 1965) with Karin Dor.

Dan Martin, Roberto Rodriquez
German postcard, no. 62 of 64. Photo: Constantin. Still from Der Lezte Mohikaner/The Last of the Mohicans (1965) with Ricardo Rodríguez.

Sources: Jean-Pascal Constantin (Les Gens du Cinéma - French), IMDb and Wikipedia.

No comments:

Post a Comment